Ya Habibi...

the world these two exist in is inspired by real life sardinia and their outfits here specifically is from boes e merdules - basically people wear masks that represent either an ox or a man and it represents the battle between man and beast . i like it !! ive never gotten to see it in person myself but one day... one day i shall... i was also really inspired by searching for a world that doesnt exist and the summer hikaru died for this :} and deltarune ... obviously...

Austu Marras is the one wearing the mask, theyre nonbinary but dont have the word for it yet... I tried reflecting that by making their mask hornless. They help their family at the farm, tending to the sheep, mainly. They're soft spoken and prefer quiet moments.

Their best friend is Rosa Sanna. I originally wanted to draw her wearing the mask too, but I also wanted to be evil and make them both deal with heternormative standards... weird route called... anyway Rosa is the eldest of her family, and helps take care of her younger siblings and enjoys weaving baskets (I added this because I have a basket my great grandmother weaved by hand and it was just important to me to include that). Here she's wearing clothes inspired by traditional Sardinian clothes :}

theyre both around 17 and 18, theyre best friends and nothing bad ever happens to them . except for when it does

the actual story...

On the day of the Festival, Austu sees Rosa wandering away deep in the woods. They follow her, worried. She hadn't been acting like herself much today at all... when they find her, it's deep in a cavern and it's already too late. The whole world around them is crumbling, and it's because of a deal she made with a god. Austu wakes up in their bed, at the start of the day again, shaking but uninjured.

^ that's my blurb. and thats all Austu knows. Rosa's side of the story is the mystery that Austu needs to uncover :] but i will tell u free of charge. YIPEE!!

here's the entrance to the cavern in the daytime

The first time Rosa lived through the Festival, something terrible happened to Austu at the end and they ended up dying. Rosa immediately ran away and hid in the same cavern from earlier, finding the god for the first time. Maybe she had heard of it before, maybe not.

here's some concepts for what that looks like :]

She pleads with it to try and save Austu, and it ends up putting her in a time loop. She lives through that over and over again and never manages to save Austu, and if she does, the day just starts over again. So after so much heartbreak and hurt and exhaustion she decides in the end that if Austu's going to die, she'd rather be the one to do it, and take everything down alongside. After that (the thing that Austu sees), the time loop somehow gets transferred to Austu and they're both trapped in a cycle of trying to save each other.

so austu is a lamb and rosa is a snake ! and the god/deity encompasses them both

them resting by the cliffside together :]

art of the village <3 very subtle mettatons in this one LOL i was getting tired of drawing it

and the place they live in! i photobashed this one a little teehee